GGPoker Hits 900,000 Concurrent Players During The World Festival

GGPoker Continuing to Grow

With the huge numbers being seen on the site, it is clear now more than ever that we are in the midst of a new poker boom. Popularity is at a high close to, or clearing the highs that came before the Black Friday crash. May 3rd saw the number of players continue to grow as the action unfolded. GGPoker posted on X about crossing the 700,000 player threshold, which was the site’s largest turnout. It was only a matter of hours before that number ballooned to 900,000. Since then, the premier online poker platform saw 900,000 players take to the felt simultaneously on Friday, May 8th, matching the turnout set on the opening day of the World Series.

The World Festival Effect

Online poker operators always see an influx of traffic when a major series is on. Whether it’s SCOOP or WCOOP on PokerStars, or the World Festival on GGPoker, these events are what get online poker players’ blood really pumping. With bumper fields and prize pools, there is more potential value up for grabs. This installment of the World Festival is the biggest yet to date on GGPoker or any online poker site. The series first came to the online felt in 2023, with a $200,000,000 guarantee across 1,000 tournaments at four different buy-in tiers. $200,000,000 was an incredibly ambitious target, but it was matched and surpassed. Ultimately, $239,000,000 was distributed to players over the series that year.

The following year, GGPoker upped the numbers again, this time to $250,000,000. The result was the same; the guarantee was smashed, this time $331,000,000 was won by players across 1,600 tournaments. It is estimated that around 5,500,000 entries were made across the tournament series, making it one of the largest online poker series ever. This series success came from expansion, with the inclusion of the ever-popular Mystery Bounty format, “Omaholic” events for four-card players, and the Asian-themed Zodiac events.

2025 saw GGPoker keep the lofty $250,000,000 guarantee, which was smashed once more. $324,000,000 was won by players across the wide buy-in range, with 5,600,000 entrants taking to the virtual tables in series events. By this point, the World Festival was penciled into the calendars of most online grinders, and there is no doubt that the series has had an instrumental effect on GGPoker’s resounding popularity to this day.

Fast forward one more year, and the $300,000,000 guarantee became a statement of intent from the Natural8 network client. It will be no surprise to see that this guarantee is smashed come the end of the series, as the World Festival has become the biggest recurring online poker tournament series.

A Look At What is To Come

There is still plenty of action to come from the GGPoker World Festival. Here is a look at some of the notable tournaments at the lower end of the buy-in spectrum that will be taking place over the week. Expect great value, massive fields, and bounty action!

• $5.50 Bounty Hunters Mega Main $100k GTD (11/05)
• $5.50 Deepstack Turbo $50k GTD (12/05)
• $5.50 Wednesday Wonderbox [Mystery Bounty] $100k GTD (13/05)
• $5.50 Bounty Hunters Daily Main [9-Max] $100k GTD (14/05)
• $5.50 Bounty Hunters Daily Main [Deep Turbo] $75k GTD (15/05)
• $10 Bounty Hunters [Deepstack Turbo] $100k GTD (15/05)
• $5.50 Bounty Hunters Daily Main [Big Bounties] $100k GTD (16/05)
• $10 Sunday Kickstarter [Bounty] $100k GTD (17/05)
• $5.50 Sunday Showdown Asia [Mystery Bounty] $100,000 GTD (17/05)
• $5.50 Bounty Hunters Sunday Main Event $100k GTD (17/05)
• $10 Sunday Showdown [Mystery Bounty] $150k GTD